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Indians Short Hops: Game 5

Indians Short Hops: Game 5

BOSTON -- Fielding the Indians' 7-1 Game 5 loss to the Red Sox on a short hop.

In < 25 words ...
Josh Beckett outpitched C.C. Sabathia and the Indians missed a chance to celebrate at home. They now have to get that last victory in Boston.

Frozen moment
The Indians just came up short all night, including the seventh inning when center fielder Grady Sizemore missed out on a terrific diving catch on Kevin Youkilis' drive into the right-center-field alley. Dustin Pedroia, who had doubled to lead off the inning, scored on the play, Youkilis ended up at third with a triple and then scored David Ortiz's sacrifice fly.

Big number10 -- Number of hits given up by Sabathia in six-plus innings.

Game balls

Sizemore
Three balls. Sizemore, the only Indians hitter with at least two hits, had a first-inning double and a single in the fifth.

Franklin Gutierrez
Two balls. Gutierrez's still struggling at the plate, but he did make a nice throw to gun down Manny Ramirez trying to score from second on Mike Lowell's first-inning single.

Rafael Perez
Zero balls. He allowed three runs while retiring just one batter in the eighth, and his throwing error was a key play in the inning.

Sense of October
Indians fans like to boo Ramirez, but they were especially loud on Thursday. The feelings were probably inflamed after Ramirez's showboating reaction to his seventh-inning home run in Game 4 on Tuesday.

Hafner

Lines of the GameHittingTravis Hafner4 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBIComment: Pronk is struggling right now. He batted with runners at the corners and no outs in the first and hit into a double play. The run scored but that's all the Indians got that inning. Hafner struck out in his next two at-bats and grounded out to end the eighth.

Spoken
"Nothing is easy in this game. We know we have some work to do. We know we're playing one of the best teams in the game."
-- Victor Martinez

Next step:
The teams are off on Friday before resuming the series on Saturday at Fenway Park. The Indians, still one victory away from going to the World Series, send Fausto Carmona to the mound, while the Red Sox will pitch Curt Schilling.

T.R. Sullivan is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.